With the prevalence of digital still cameras and digital video cameras, there are increased occasions where still images or moving images having been shot are stored in a computer for later viewing, processing, or displaying on the screen of a game device or a television system. It is also popularly done that the shot moving images are uploaded to a posting site on the Internet so as to share them with the other users.
Among the digital cameras are those capable of shooting panoramic images, which allow the image taking of panoramic images of wide view angle with perfect ease. Also in wide use are software tools that can generate a panoramic image by stitching together a plurality of images shot by a digital camera from different shooting directions.
There is a site named “360cities” (http://www.360cities.net) that accepts the posting of panoramic images shot by users and show them on the Internet, so that the users around the world can view the panoramic images posted.
When a multitude of panoramic images from different shooting locations are posted on a site, it is necessary to contrive to organize the panoramic images by shooting location, for instance. Otherwise, the consequence will be a disorderly display on the site of a plurality of panoramic images of different shooting locations, which will not facilitate any active utilization of the panoramic images.
The above site named 360cities, which links the posted panoramic images on a planar map, makes use of an interface through which the user can search for a spot on the map to select and view the panoramic images shot at the spot.
However, the panoramic images of different shooting locations are not directly associated with each other. Therefore, upon completion of viewing panoramic images shot at a certain spot, the user must return to the map display and search for a new spot on the map where he/she selects panoramic images shot at the new spot.